Emme Phyzema, 五人一首, Alkerdeel, and Bisbâyé

Emme Phyzema – Shorts Are Comfy and Easy to Wear!

The creative mastermind known as Emme Phyzema just released a new wacky avant-garde progressive rock masterpiece—first with the addendum When You’re Listening to Fake Harpsichord Music and, would you know it, it was a MIDI harpsichord version of this album—Shorts Are Comfy and Easy to Wear. Was this whole album conceptualized from a single interaction with a Youngster in a Pokémon game? Who is to say? But, to be sure, this thirty-and-some-minute album extracts the best creative juice from the whole region with collaborators and guests such as … Read more

Matt’s Albums of the Year

In a year turned entirely upside-down by the global pandemic, music still found a way to be awesome and provide respite for our weary souls. For some reason, even-numbered years recently have not had any all-time pantheon-level releases, while odd years have always had one or two albums that tower above the rest; that trend persists here, as this year’s best material—while excellent—doesn’t hit my threshold for glory. If we did numerical ratings here, I would say that 95% and up is that standard, and I don’t think anything from 2020 exceeded about a 92%. But don’t misunderstand; while there’s … Read more

XX XX


Well, twenty-twenty has been a year. I’m not here to cover what’s happened outside of music so don’t worry, but one thing COVID-19 couldn’t stop is the relentless tides of music. It did, however, slow them down somewhat, but people cope, adapt, create nonetheless, and, in the end, borne art into the world.

I reviewed, or rather recommended, 175 albums released in 2020; all formats included, I’ve tracked 2,853 releases! Compare this to 2019’s 2,589 and you can see how this is one domain almost untouched by the pandemic. Last year, I had the brilliant idea of putting together a Read more

Weekly Release Dump


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Friday, 18 December

Atrium – New Light: Silhouettes

16:09
progressive metal
Provo, Utah
Independent

Combat Astronomy – Ultrā virēs

43:02
avant-prog
St Paul, Minnesota
Independent

Divinity – Invention

30:13
progressive death metal
Calgary, Alberta
Independent

Golden Hymns Sing “Hurrah” – The Great Dystopian Songbook, Ⅰ: Songs for the Setting & Rising Sun

60:10
post-rock
New York, New York
Independent

Grayceon – Mothers, Weavers, Vultures

42:52
progressive metal
San Francisco, California
Independent

Read more

Weekly Release Dump

Hover over foreign scripts for pronunciation and romanization.

Friday, 11 December

Antoine Fafard & Gavin Harrison – Chemical Reactions

50:07
jazz fusion
Montréal, Québec
Timeless Momentum

Anupam Shobhakar & Qais Essar – Vesper

15:42
folk
Phoenix, Arizona
Worlds within Worlds

The Avalanches – We Will Always Love You

71:17
R&B, soul
Australia
Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd.

Beaten to Death – Laat maar, deel twee: ik verhuis naar Østmarka

7:50
post-grindcore
Oslo, Norway
Independent

Read our review.

Boris & Merzbow – RIP 2020

77:53
noise rock
Japan
Relapse

Read more